Time May Change Me
by mandymld
Summary: AU as of Darlington epi, Denise has read Lucy's journal to prevent Jess from selling them out she frees Flynn early. If Rittenhouse began altering history long before we knew? If Jiya has seen visions of that altered history and thanks to Mason's briefcase the time team has a way to take the fight to Rittenhouse. We fight our way through history to freedom!
1. Chapter 1 Past is Prologue

A/N: While waiting for the wonderful workers at the local computer shop to fix my laptop, I started writing this to keep from messing up my HP/Labyrinth crossover. I dropped if off my deck and destroyed my hard drive and they did such a wonderful job, accessing my files it and keeping my content intact so that I could have it downloaded into my new laptop. Thankfully this means I can go back to posting my other stories but I felt I needed to post this as well. It's an orphan as I won't be writing anything else regarding this show.

I began watching Timeless at its debut, fell in love with it and it's characters. Loved the character of Flynn, I have a thing for bad boys, heck, I cheered for Hans Gruber in Die Hard. Well mainly because I really, really disliked Bruce Willis who my husband was a huge fan of. Anyhow, as I was saying, I like the character of Flynn, the tortured bad guy who only wished to fix what he had lost.

I loved Lucy and was very sure that she would end up with Wyatt, another man who had lost his wife in agonizing circumstances. Didn't matter one way or the other to me personally, as I was too busy shipping Rufus and Jiya.(Nerd love always gets me.) Then the second season happened...

When they were in Darlington and Rufus kept pushing Wyatt about Lucy, I was thinking oh no don't go there, this fast. I used to be a soap opera fan and know the signs of doomed relationships, especially with a wife who died off-screen. Then came the Los Angeles episode where they slept together and I felt a sinking in my stomach as I knew, just KNEW that Jessica would be returning.

Sure enough, Jessica returned and then they had Wyatt go chasing after her without a word to Lucy and I grew a little cold at the pairing. Then he brought her to the bunker, which I sort of expected but was pissed about. The heart turned to ice during the scene with Rufus where he was joking around about the noises coming from Jessica and Wyatt's room.

I knew that she was only there as a cockblock, but the way it was written turned me off on the character of Wyatt, Wyatt not, Matt Lanter as he is an absolute doll to follow on twitter. THEN came Flynn. I had already noticed the chemistry between Abigail Spencer and Goran Visnjic but wasn't sure how they could pair them together.

But their scenes together this season fired my imagination up, in spite of my doubts... and I was torn but then I saw the deleted scene that was posted on May 29th with Flynn and Lucy after she slept in his room and the chemistry between them and the snark that is Flynn gave me an idea and I had to write it down so that I could go back to my regular ships...

 **Chapter One A Revealing Exchange**

Agent Christopher stepped back as the thick metal door was unlocked and she was guided inside. Turning to the guard, she asked for a moment alone with the prisoner.

"Are you sure, I hear tell he is a real dangerous fellow. A little lady like yourself, well I can't guarantee your safety." The guard was saying as he looked at the older woman standing there.

"I will be fine." She announced and when the man gave her a look of doubt, she suggested that he go speak to the warden about it. When the guard had done so, she looked at the man wearing the orange jumper who had yet to even acknowledge her arrival, and said: "For what it is worth, I do apologize for your ending up in this cell."

"It is worth nothing." He coldly replied. "What do you want?"

"It's Lucy..." She saw his body tense up and his face turned up and she saw the heat in those very angry eyes and knew what she was about to tell him would only make things worse but she needed his help. "I read the diary, the one that started all of this. I know what you know."

Scoffing, he said, "What, you came to play on my emotions..."

"No, I came because Rittenhouse used Neville and took down Mason Industries and Lucy is missing." That got his attention as she knew it would. "We think that they have her."

"Of course they have her. You know that from the journal." He retorted, his tone kept even in spite of the clear evidence that he was upset, with his clenched fists. She knew that telling him this would not go over well, but it had been six weeks and they were running out of ideas.

"I didn't believe it was real and was under orders by my superiors to catch you." She replied then admitted, "It was a distraction as they used my being out of the loop to take all information from the files, then less than a few days later Mason Industries."

"What...what are you doing to retrieve Lucy?" He asked his eyes now on his clenched fist that were the only indication of how upset he was.

"I sent Wyatt and Rufus to 1918 in search of the mothership and Lucy but they are flying blind without her." She replied then looking at him admitted "I am concerned about what I read, about the soap opera antics that end up with Jessica Logan returning and what she does to the team. I need your help."

"Why should I help you?" He asked leaning back, well aware that Lucy would be fine physically and that emotionally he couldn't do anything for her until they helped him escape almost six weeks from then.

"To stop Lucy from sleeping with Wyatt, to keep Lucy from hurting so badly. You of all people..." Agent Christopher saw his eyes, the burning anger in them and added "I want to prevent this from dragging out any longer than need be. I saw what you were doing, following the path set out in the diary, following Lucy's directions, but I can't help feeling that the best way to end this, to put a stop to the deaths and destruction is to alter the path."

"I tried." He acidly pointed out. "Your team stopped me each time, which means that there is a good chance things have to play out like they do in the journal."

When the Homeland Security Agent moved to sit next to him on the bed, he looked at her as if to ask what the hell was she doing when she pressed a cell phone in his hands and then told him "For Lucy?"

"How is my escaping going to help Lucy?" He sneered.

"Get to the warehouse described in the book in three days, Flynn. Escape before the attempt on your life." She replied then went to the door to knock on it. Turning to face him, she saw his anger and told him the rest "Flynn, I have been in your shoes, torn between two worlds, two different lives, the difference is that you have the chance of fixing both of them. I know something that you don't, something that we recently figured out."

With that, she tossed him a file and told him to look at page five.

Flynn looked at her then at the file and read what was written. Confused, he looked at her. "What nonsense is this?"

"Connor Mason recently confessed to sending out the lifeboat on trial runs at the order of Rittenhouse, with people who were left in the past. He also admitted to knowing the dates of each event, and more importantly, he was aware that you were transported in the lifeboat back into your timeline while unconscious."

"I don't remember doing that." He suspiciously stated as he looked at her. "Why don't I remember it? Why doesn't she remember?"

"They messed with your timeline by removing you from one timeline and to a different one which Connor admits that it can cause a sort of time psychosis. When you were arrested, they ran tests on your blood and found a rather interesting drug in your blood which combined with the time trip into your own timelines...let's just say that those visions you have been having since then might be real. As for the rest, I am not sure, but this is Rittenhouse we are talking about."

"How do you know about that?" He asked tersely. "The visions, I mean."

"When you were in the infirmary they had a camera on you. The government that is. I think that this is why Rittenhouse brought Jessica back to life in the timeline, but instead of spying, she in her jealousy caused bigger problems. Quite frankly, I think that if we prevent her from kidnapping Jiya and killing Rufus, it will give us an advantage."

"I have to go." Denise Christopher looked at the man seated on the bed with his hands cuffed and told him "I will be waiting in the warehouse, either way."

"Bring Lucy if you get her back." He replied as he gave her his silent agreement to do as she asked. "And Agent Christopher..."

Looking at the man after she had knocked on the steel door, she saw his ghost of a smile and felt a bit better about what she was doing when he added "You might want to keep quiet about the fact that she is my wife, I don't think that this Lucy in this timeline would take it well."

With that comment, Agent Christopher exited the cell and fifteen minutes later was exiting the warden's office after telling him she would be back next week. "Flynn is refusing to tell me what I need."

"He is a stubborn one." The warden replied as he walked the agent out of his prison. "I do have to say, I know that he is an ex-government agent, but he has been very quiet for a prisoner, and even more so for one in solitary confinement."

Agent Christopher replied "I agree, which is why I have to visit him every week, he knows something that is very important to my job. Garcia Flynn tangled with terrorists and was once a hero, who cracked under the pressure and killed his family."

Driving away, Denise was thinking of her earlier argument with Wyatt and Rufus about her plans to get Garcia Flynn released into her custody to help them. They had been very much against it, but Rufus had softened his objections after a conversation with his girlfriend but he was clearly not on board and that was with them believing that it would be months away from having Flynn joining them not days.

 **Chapter Two: Hidden Pain**

To Agent Christopher's relief, the team brought Lucy back with them from the past, the historian looking quite worse for the wear. "Good job, gentlemen. Lucy, good to have you back."

Jiya had hugged the thin woman who looked as if a strong wind could blow her over. Lucy was so thin that Agent Christopher was almost as concerned about her weight as she was about how pale and how dead her eyes were in spite of clearly feeling relief at finding all of them alive.

By the time they had finished debriefing, Mason was reading over the 1910 Manifesto written by Nicholas Keynes who Emma and Carol Preston had rescued, that they had found on the sleeper agent in the past. Jiya was gently guiding Lucy towards the room they were to be sharing and towards the shower that the other girl surely needed.

Agent Christopher was waiting for Lucy to exit the bathroom knowing from her journal that the younger woman had spent most of the shower crying tears of relief at her rescue and at having killed someone in the past.

Reaching out to hug her, she felt Lucy recoiling and told her "I know what you faced and I know the guilt you feel. I am here, just rely on me for now. I know that it isn't the same but we will fix this."

Lucy bravely attempted to put on a serene expression but Denise was having none of that. "Lucy, you are not alone, in spite of how you feel that way."

"I just need sleep." She replied and then showed the other woman the sleeping pill that she had been given by Wyatt when she had been bandaged up by him. "I will just get some sleep and be back to work tomorrow."

With a sigh, Agent Christopher let her lie to her, knowing that if things worked out as planned, they would soon have Flynn who according to Lucy's own words it would be the former terrorist who would eventually get through to her about things.

"I am heading home, but if you need me, for ANY reason, please, don't hesitate to call." With that, she headed out, grateful that at least Lucy would get some sleep if nothing else.

Too bad, she missed seeing Lucy toss away the small sleeping pill and head back towards the other end of the bunker that Jiya had shown to her. Once in the kitchen, she saw that they had tea and made herself a cup then wandered the bunker, as night time fell and the others began to head to bed.

Settling in front of the television, mindlessly watching some old movie with Montgomery Clift as a priest and let her tears silently fall as she relived over and over again not only the death of the young soldier but how close she had come to ending things with her mother and Emma.

Eventually falling asleep on the sofa, she never saw Jiya entering and then after debating waking her up, decided that it was best to cover her with a blanket and let her sleep where she was as she was sleeping fitfully and from the way she was muttering words, it was clearly about Garcia Flynn.

Lucy woke up the next morning to the sound of someone in the kitchen.

Wyatt who had been making coffee was embarrassed at the noise he was making having been told by Jiya to stay out of the kitchen until Lucy had woken up, had slipped in desperate for a cup of java. "Sorry, Lucy."

"It's fine." She replied while brushing her hair out of her face. "What time is it?"

"About seven thirty." He replied. "What time did you finally fall asleep?"

"Around three, I think." She replied while attempting to stretch her now aching muscles. "At least I was awake at two thirty when a new movie came on."

"Where are the others?" She asked.

"Connor is working on programming the lifeboat to accept the fourth seat that Rufus and Jiya installed in case we had to bring Jiya to get you back." He replied. "Now they just decided that it might be handy to have."

Wyatt was about to offer her some coffee when they heard the Claxton that meant that Rittenhouse had jumped into the past.

Lucy took a deep breath and was determined to get back to their routine, walked with Wyatt to the command center. Being told the date was September 1955 and Darlington North Carolina she blinked and admitted she had no idea why they would be there.

To her surprise, Wyatt asked Jiya to repeat the date and then asked Lucy "Would they care about a black man winning the NASCAR race at Darlington?"

"They might, but I don't recall hearing of such an event." She replied.

"That was because they claimed he cheated, they paid him the winnings but only if he agreed to sign a nondisclosure agreement. However, Wendell Scott would remain racing even if he never was allowed to win again." Wyatt explained.

Lucy had to argue with Denise so that she could travel with the team, as Denise Christopher was clearly worried about her, but she got her way and was soon seated in the lifeboat. She noticed that Wyatt's eyes were on her and felt uncomfortable at seeing that he was clearly feeling feelings that she wasn't ready to deal with just yet.

Lucy sat back, closed her eyes, her mind on how she had felt when she had thought she had lost Wyatt and Rufus and was wondering if maybe, just maybe this was why she felt so alone...

Soon back in the thick of things and believing that they had solved the mystery and that they were on the way of fixing things, that Rittenhouse was intending to kill Ryan Millerson a driver for some reason, they soon found out he was yet another sleeper agent.

Rufus meanwhile was trying to convince Wyatt to tell Lucy about what he was feeling for her and pointed out that they had gotten her back for a reason. "You have to take the chance, bro."

Ducking for cover from the bullets now flying their way as Emma and her co-conspirators were attempting to keep them from saving the real potential victims of the Rittenhouse plot. Wyatt ends up killing Ryan Millerson and they steal the bomb-laden car and Rufus defused it at the garage.

Soon returning to their timeline, Wyatt was watching as Lucy was talking to Denise and realized that Rufus was right, he had to tell Lucy how he felt about her next chance he got.

* * *

Connor was seated at the command center, his mind on the public appearance that he had given up that would cost him his company and felt sick to his stomach at what he was losing at that very minute.

As he sat there, he thought of how he had gotten involved with Rittenhouse and what he had given up in his mad dream to prove that time travel was real and he overheard what Lucy was saying about Nickolas Keynes and the sleeper agents and something tickled his memory, something that he was certain was the answer to the questions that were shouting at him in his brain.

Lucy and Jiya were talking quietly while Rufus and Wyatt were gushing over one another as they talked about being there for Wendall Scott's victory and having met the driver. The two women chuckled as they saw Rufus acting out what Wyatt had done while driving the car with the bomb in it. Lucy's eyes met Wyatt's and in spite of her off-kilter psyche and jumbled up emotions, felt a sense of being wanted for something other than her mind.

That night, Lucy fell asleep, her mind taking her to a place where she felt safe and loved, a place she had created in her own mind while hiding what she really felt from her mother during the past six weeks. When she woke, she felt better, if still a bit tired and couldn't help wondering if the reason she had slept so well were the emotions she had seen in Wyatt's eyes.

Jiya, however, was once again wondering about her dreams as Lucy was talking in her sleep, nonsense statements that made no sense, especially since she repeatedly mentioned the name, Garcia.

Agent Christopher entered the bunker the next evening and bluntly told the team that if things worked out the way she expected Garcia Flynn would be joining them that evening.

Ignoring the explosive reaction from Wyatt, she looked at the others who had resigned expressions on their faces and told them "Someone is attempting to kill him and he knows things that we don't. I know that you don't like this Wyatt but quite frankly you are not being given a choice."

"You do remember that he tried to kill all of us at one point or another?" Wyatt snarled. "We are doing just fine without him."

"No, we aren't," Jiya replied to the surprise of Lucy who looked at the young programmer. "All of you have been injured and Lucy was kidnapped. If Flynn being part of our group saves us from that happening again, I am all for it."

"Flynn is why we were injured." Rufus pointed out.

"Though, to be fair..." Lucy sighed and then told the others "Rittenhouse is desperate to get to Flynn, to kill him. I overheard my mother talking to Emma about how Flynn is a more serious threat to them than we are. They didn't talk about it in front of me, in spite of being very blunt about everything else, they kept the Flynn stuff away from me."

"Jiya, why are you so gung-ho on his being here?" Connor asked as he looked at the young girl "Have you seen something that we need to know about?

Quickly explaining to Lucy about Jiya's premonitions, they all turned to Jiya who only confessed to her premonition, and didn't mention Lucy's dreams, "I saw myself with Lucy, Flynn, and Rufus in New York City, from the clothes we were wearing it was about the turn of the century and he saves my life."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Rufus was asking his girlfriend. "You only said that you saw him working with us, not that he would be traveling in the lifeboat with us."

"I didn't want you to worry about me." She replied with a touch on his arm to comfort him. "I was fine, well other than my arm aching from where he yanked me back up from where I was falling off the platform we were on."

"We will be talking more about this later, but I have to go and retrieve him." Agent Christopher looked at Lucy who was barely on her feet and wincing at having to ask "I was hoping you would come with me."

"No, I will go," Wyatt demanded.

"No, you won't." Agent Christopher shut down his demand and with a withering look on her face told him "If you were to come he would think that this is some sort of trap and we need him. You have got to accept this, Wyatt."

The young soldier was clearly not happy at this order and was about to protest when Connor asked Agent Christopher if he could send Jiya along. "I need some parts for a device I need to create and as I can't leave..."

"Give her the list." She directed then after a moment's hesitation admitted: "I have to make a few other stops and we don't wish to draw attention to ourselves so let's be quick about this."

TBC


	2. Chapter 2 The Diary

**Chapter Three**

When Garcia Flynn entered the industrial complex that contained the warehouse that he was meeting Agent Christopher and hopefully Lucy at, he took a walk around, double checking to make sure he wasn't about to be betrayed yet again.

Entering the warehouse via the fire escape ladder, the roof, and a skylight, he looked down to see three people. He was about to leave, positive he had been lied to when he realized that the third person was the female geek he knew would end up dating Rufus.

Wondering why she was there, he silently came closer until he was twenty feet away then quietly announced himself with "Hello ladies."

All three whirled and he saw for himself how bad Lucy looked. Grateful that she was alive, he looked her over for a long time, then turned to the Homeland Security agent and asked: "Was the attempted murder part of your plan to allow me to escape?"

"No, I am guessing that was the Rittenhouse attempt. You should know, their assassin was an amateur, he didn't bother to make sure that you were in the cell before throwing the grenade in. Officially you were now listed as dead." she replied. "So no one is looking for you, except for Rittenhouse when they figure out that you are helping us."

"Wonderful." He sarcastically replied then asked, "What are we doing now?"

"We are heading back to the bunker minus a trip to an electronics warehouse for Connor Mason." She replied then when they were in the Chevy Suburban with the darkened windows she wished she dare roll them down because it was very clear that Garcia Flynn had crossed paths with some very smelly fish.

Once at the strip mall containing the warehouse store, Jiya hurried inside and soon had gathered up the assorted electronics that Connor had asked her for. "What you doing to do with all this?"

Looking at the clerk and annoyed at finding his eyes once again on her chest, she rolled her eyes and stated: "I am building a time machine to go back to the future."

"Yeah right, so don't tell me." He replied then went to help another customer and forgot the girl who he had been intending on flirting with.

Returning to the vehicle, Jiya was gingerly avoiding being close to Garcia Flynn the smell radiating from him hurt her head as Agent Christopher was talking to Lucy. Flynn was resting his head against the window, his eyes shut clearly attempting to sleep but Jiya was very certain that he was aware of every single turn that Agent Christopher made on their trip back to the bunker.

* * *

Garcia Flynn entered the room in the bunker that he had been assigned and closed the door, taking a deep breath and looking around. Smelling himself, he grimaced and then thought about what Lucy had said to him just before he had left the very divided group and let out a small chuckle.

The historian had leaned in and gently suggested a shower or two, then had pointed him down the hallway. "Agent Christopher arranged for your personal effects to be brought here when she raided their undercover wardrobe for some clothes for you."

Unhooking the pea green military style duffel bag, he found enough clothes to last him for a few weeks, thankfully new underwear and socks plus a small kit containing hygiene supplies.

Looking at the small box next to his bed, he hesitated then left it to be dealt with when he came back from the bathroom and gathered his clothes and his kit before heading down the hallway towards the bathroom.

It took two showers to completely rid himself of the smells he had acquired on his trip to the warehouse and then he took pleasure in shaving with a real razor and was debating using the hair dryer he found in the bathroom, but before he could make a decision, there was a sharp knock on the door and he heard the English accent of Connor Mason telling him that dinner was cooked and if he wished to eat he had to join them immediately.

Exiting the bathroom wearing a pair of gray sweats and a long sleeve navy henley shirt with only socks on his feet, he padded down to where Lucy and Jiya were seated at a Formica table that reminded him of something his mother would have had in the late seventies.

Shamelessly eavesdropping, he realized that Wyatt and Rufus were pouting and refusing to eat with him, that they had taken their dinner plates to their shared bedroom. "Ladies, thank you for dinner."

"It's only spaghetti, it's the only thing that I can cook," Lucy announced as she placed the garlic bread on a trivet and joined him at the table unaware that Flynn was well aware of her lack of skill in the kitchen. "So, Agent Christopher asked me to tell you how things work down here."

Jiya stopped Lucy and turned to Flynn and asked: "We have iced tea, soda, and beer, which would you prefer?"

"Water actually." He stated and was handed a bottle of cold bottled water. "Thank you."

"Now, as I was saying, we each take turns cooking and doing the cleanup. There are washers and dryers in one of the alcoves but they are from the eighties as well. We have one television but we do have a couple of tablets, Agent Christopher would prefer if you didn't have one just yet, but she did arrange for some books to be brought to the bunker, so we set up a small library." She stated in between bites of her dinner. "Any questions?"

"Is that the only shower?" He inquired.

Grimacing, she admitted "Yes they are trying to fix the second one, but she is finding it hard to locate workers so we are using only that one. We do have a couple of half baths, one near the command center, one near the small library and of course the full bath that we are sharing."

"If there is something special you wish to eat, place the ingredients on the list. Agent Christopher can't always get what we want but she does at least try." Lucy was telling him while Jiya was staring at Flynn.

When Lucy had finished eating, she was about to talk to Flynn about what he knew when Jiya looked at them both and said impulsively to Flynn. "I know why you did what you did and what the original timeline is supposed to be if you need to talk..."

"He won't be doing so to you," Rufus said as he glared at Flynn from where he was carrying in the dirty plates belonging to his roommate and himself. "He is going to stay far away from you unless we are around."

Jiya was about to object when Rufus glared at Flynn then stormed out of the room. "Great, just great. I have to go talk to him."

Jiya left and Connor Mason sighed and looking at Lucy announced "Mr. Flynn and I will do the dishes. Go talk to Jiya, please?"

Garcia Flynn looked over at the man whose machine started all of this and asked: "Why would you volunteer me to do anything?"

"Because otherwise, Lucy would have silently done the dishes and never said a word to Jiya about the fact that it was Wyatt and Rufus turn." He replied. "Besides, we need to talk about the mothership and your time with it."

By the end of helping with the chores, Garcia was mentally exhausted from the various questions Mason had asked him and went to his room. Closing the door, he saw that his dirty clothes were now piled neatly on a nearby chair in a tied up clear trash bag and that they had a note upon them.

Lifting the notes, amused to notice that it was written in Lucy's handwriting, he chuckled at her suggestion of burning them, but Garcia found that he preferred to wash his purloined clothes as he had rather liked the leather jacket he had stolen from a guard's locker.

Putting away the wardrobe provided to him in the filing cabinet, he saw that Agent Christopher had also freed up his own books that he once had at his office all those years ago working for the NSA.

Lastly, he unpacked his box of personal belongings, the journal, not the copy disguised as the thick bottom of the box containing his wife's wedding ring and a lock of his daughter's hair. He didn't have any photos, which still haunted him to this day.

He had often taken pictures with his phone, promising Lorena to take his phone to the local department store to be developed, but he had frequently forgotten. Now he found himself regretting that. The last few items were rather random bits and pieces of his time spent chasing though history, items that thankfully Lucy had never seen or she would know instantly that something wasn't right.

As he ran the piece of ribbon through his fingers, he found himself hoping that in spite of their altering his entering their timeline, that things would end up the way that they had in Lucy's journal, or even better, that they fixed things so that they returned to their original timeline.

* * *

Lucy and Jiya were beyond exasperated with the male members of the time team as they retreated to their own room. Once changed into their bedclothes and seated upon their own beds, they verbalized what each had been thinking about the childish attitude of Rufus and Wyatt.

"Lucy, why are you so accepting of Flynn?" Jiya looked at the historian. "You came off the worst other than Rufus being shot during your entanglements with Flynn."

Lucy rested her head against the metal wall and then softly admitted: "I am not accepting of his past but at the same time..."

She went silent then continued "When I thought he had killed his family when I believed he was a terrorist, I would have fought against his being invited to stay with us. When he shot Lincoln... it's difficult because I find myself seeing the man he would have been if Rittenhouse hadn't interfered in his life. There are brief glimpses of him. He..."

Jiya waited patiently knowing that this was difficult for Lucy and probably the first time she had admitted out loud that there was something about Flynn.

"..he has been so angry with me for not seeing what he sees, what he says I wrote in that journal he keeps so close to him. He kept telling me even at our first meeting, well, first appearing in this timeline that we would end up working together."

With a heavy sigh, Lucy admitted "From that first time, I saw him, at the Hindenburg, across the field, I felt something, I don't understand it, I didn't then and I still don't, but there is this sense of familiarity, of...something I can't completely explain. He has often threatened to kill us, but at the same time, I knew, and I don't know how I knew, but I did that he wouldn't kill me."

"He has been rough with me, I can't deny that, but..." Lucy was now staring at the wall blindly as she tried to find the word, Jiya knew what it was she didn't, thanks to her premonitions but knew that it was for Lucy to figure out for herself.

"But?" Jiya prompted.

"It's his eyes and the way he has regrets in them that tell me that there is something going on there, something I don't know about. I am guessing from what you said at dinner, you have had visions of his life?"

"It's more complicated than that, but yes. It's why I get why he did what he did. I only wish that there was a way to get through to the guys about it." Jiya replied then had a thought and decided that she would talk to Rufus tomorrow, by himself, hopefully, she could explain to him what she had seen and what the future was going to bring.

* * *

Wyatt and Rufus were up early the next morning both of them determined to protect the two women from Garcia Flynn. When Flynn entered the galley kitchen, dressed and already talking to Connor Mason, Wyatt grimaced knowing that Mason was on the side of Flynn for some reason and that he would report whatever they did to Agent Christopher so he made plans to get a hold of Flynn when he was alone.

Rufus was aghast as he listened to Flynn and Mason as they discussed why Anthony had betrayed them. "He knew?"

"About the random trips, you had Emma and the other pilot make with Rittenhouse agents into the past, yes." Flynn replied "It was why I was about to recruit him. He didn't approve of my methods, but..."

Scoffing, Wyatt stood and sneered at the terrorist. "Methods, you were killing people."

"Now, now Mr. Flynn is now on our side, Mr. Logan." Mason tried to soothe the situation, wishing that Agent Christopher had arrived early that morning but he knew she was going to her office before joining them. "Anthony sent me a note, it is why I am working on alternative energy sources for the lifeboat. He wrote that there were issues with using nuclear power."

"Yes, the jumps are quicker but to shut down the mothership takes longer after we have arrived at our locale," Flynn replied more for Rufus as he had already discussed this with Mason. "It is what allows you to get such a good trace on us. We never did figure out how to eliminate that problem."

Wyatt was pissed at being brushed aside but he stayed silent as Lucy and Jiya had joined them for breakfast. After the meal, the team split up to do what they normally did during the day, Lucy to read her history books, Rufus and Jiya to work on the time machine and Connor went back to the laptop he had been using so secretively.

Wyatt was hoping to use the time to let Flynn know how things were going to be but before he could catch the terrorist, the other man had followed Lucy to the library and was settling in to read.

Not being a reader, Wyatt decided that the best thing to do was to find a spot nearby and watch over Flynn to make sure that he didn't hurt Lucy. To his annoyance, the other two were reading companionably all morning, only stopping when Agent Christopher joined them around lunchtime with pizza.

"We need to talk." She was telling the team. "I read the Keynes Manifesto, Lucy, we need to know everything you do about his rescue."

Lucy looked down at the table, the pizza laying heavy on her stomach as she thought about that dead boy whose life she had ended but swallowing down the bile, for now, filled them in on all she had been told. "I was told that he was my great-grandfather. That my mother's mother was his daughter who had been born just as he was killed in the previous timeline."

"Do you have any idea why they would bring him to the future?" Denise asked.

Lucy thought about it then said "My mother is pretty much the defacto leader of Rittenhouse since the death of Benjamin Cahill, but she is just the leader nominally, I don't know for sure but I sort of got the impression that the only reason that was because she is the only person besides myself with Rittenhouse blood still living."

Denise wrote some notes then handed to Lucy the Manifesto. "I would suspect that the issue is that she is a woman. From what I took away from the manifesto, they are a male-dominated society. Which is why I find it strange that Emma seems to have worked her way up so fast."

"Emma..." Lucy thought about it and then had an ah-ha moment. "She is the only pilot that they have left of the time machine. She controls it, so they have no choice. She has all the power."

"So, to take down Rittenhouse we need to deal with Emma, without her, the time machine becomes nothing more than a nice paperweight," Denise stated.

"No, you just put a huge target on Rufus, Jiya and anyone else who has piloted the time machine," Flynn stated.

Rufus was about to argue that point, by stating he would never help Rittenhouse but Flynn looked at him and said "Do you really think that they wouldn't threaten to harm those you love, that they wouldn't take Jiya or someone else close to any of the pilots? Its what they do, it is how they operate."

"Connor, I need a list of any other pilots who are still alive." Denise pointed out.

"We only have had five. Anthony who helped create the damn thing, Emma who was his student and I often suspected his lover. Stanley Fisher who is institutionalized. Rufus and Jiya." He announced.

"I will arrange to move this Mr. Fisher to a safe locale." Agent Christopher made a note of where he was and then asked Lucy and Flynn to read the manifesto. "Connor have you gotten anyplace on breaking the code written in the back of the book."

"No, I suspect that they are a list of dates and names, but am still working on it. I would like to have Mr. Flynn's help." He looked at the former NSA agent who curtly nodded his assent from where he was being handed a copy of the manifesto.

"One more thing, now that we have Mr. Flynn's help, he is going to be the fourth seat in the time machine." Agent Christopher announced.

"Hell no." Wyatt retorted.

"I said that he is going and he IS going. You need to remember that I am in charge, not yourself, Sergeant Logan." She snapped.

Rufus who had been speaking to Jiya hesitated then said "Fine, but no gun."

"We don't need him. We are like the Beatles, why bring in Yuko?" Wyatt replied.

"You do realize that there were four Beatles, not three," Flynn replied in as mild a tone as he could manage while amused at the thought that Rufus believed he needed a gun to kill someone.

"I said he was going and that is that." Agent Christopher replied in a firm tone that brooked no resistance. "Now, if there is nothing else, I wish to speak to Lucy and Flynn alone."

Wyatt was the first to exit the small office, followed by Jiya and Rufus, the latter going to speak to his roommate while Jiya went back to tinkering with the lifeboat. Connor informed Flynn that he would be working in the library for when he was finished and then left the trio alone.

"Mr. Flynn has given me a list of all trips he has taken in the mothership and what he attempted to do. We know that Rittenhouse and Emma were making trips while we were down after the explosion. You told me that you had no idea where she was going only that she would take people with her and that she often left them in the past."

"Yes."

"Do you think that you could make an educated guess based on what they were wearing at the time when they went?" She asked.

Groaning, Lucy admitted, "For the most part, they went wearing modern clothes."

When Agent Christopher looked disappointed, Lucy thought about it then said "I do recall meeting most of them. I know their names here, but not what names they are now using or when they ended up in history. But-"

Lucy was thinking on things even as she spoke to the two of them. "We should be able to figure things out if they have existed at all in our present. They have to have left an electronic footprint, education and maybe even facebook or twitter accounts. I can't help thinking what you said about Rittenhouse threatening Rufus to get him to help, I would be willing to bet that not all the Rittenhouse sleeper agents were volunteers. Ryan Millhouse, he fell in love with his wife, who was only supposed to be cover. Maybe we can find them..."

"Flynn, work with her on this plus get up to speed on what has been going on for the last two months." Agent Christopher directed the tall Croatian. "Lucy do you have a few minutes?"

Flynn took that as a dismissal and went to find out what Connor Mason needed and was soon knee-deep in explanations about how this sort of code worked and why Connor's way wasn't working.

With a pencil and paper, Flynn was now seated in Lucy's usual chair as he began work on breaking the code.

"How are you doing, and no telling me you are fine, Lucy," Denise stated as she sat down on the lumpy sofa in her office near the historian.

Lucy looked at Denise and admitted "I still can't talk about it. The time spent with Rittenhouse, the way I felt, the things I had to do to survive. I just...I just...cannot. It's too raw."

"When you are ready to talk, I am ready to listen and one of the reasons I got Flynn out of prison, is that I suspect when you are ready, he will be the one you go to."

Seeing Lucy was about to deny that, Denise looked at her and said: "Lucy, I know that you tried to blow up the mothership, that you were going to attempt a suicide bombing and kill yourself to take them out."

Seeing the younger woman flinch, Denise reached out and hugged her whispering "I am glad you failed, I would rather have you with us and us chasing them than you being dead. Please, please don't ever take a chance like that again."

"I can't make that promise." Lucy bleakly told her. "Not after what I saw and who I could become. Did you know that most children born into Rittenhouse rebel when they learn of their destiny, but that they eventually just give in? I won't, I can't."

"Lucy, you are a strong young woman whose life was torn apart by a force that you had no idea anything about but I want you to think about something. You, this you, wrote that journal, you were strong enough to fight them and to still be fighting them in spite of losing your sister. What you do need to do is to understand that you are not alone. That you have all of us and we will be there for you, even Flynn."

Lucy flushed and looking anywhere but at Denise Christopher, took a chance and admitted "I just don't know what to think of him. He makes me so, so well, I don't know confused is the best word I have for how he makes me feel."

Denise was sure that time spent with Flynn would help her deal with her emotions, she only hoped that she had made the right decision to bring Flynn here before they went to Los Angeles. Her hope that they altered that part of the future, and prevented the disastrous soap opera that led to the death of Rufus and the kidnapping of Jiya.

She knew that Wyatt Logan was upset and that the young soldier was infatuated with Lucy, mainly out of proximity and that hopefully having his wife returned to him would help alleviate the tensions in the bunker. Now she only had to ensure that it was the right Jessica and not the one who had been sold by her parents to save her brother.

* * *

Jiya was talking to Rufus and avoiding discussing the situation with Flynn as it would only start them arguing yet again. Rufus in spite of her telling him about Flynn saving her in the past in the future, or was that in the future in the past? Either way, he was sure that Wyatt or himself could do that same and that there was no need to have Flynn going along.

When they ended up discussing Darlington, Jiya was only half listening, having already had a huge dose of his fangirling attitude regarding Wendell Scott so she almost missed what he said about Wyatt and Lucy. "Stop, wait, what did you say?"

"That Lucy and Wyatt like each other and that they are both avoiding discussing it for some reason." He replied while wearing a goofy grin. "I convinced Wyatt he needed to tell Lucy how he felt."

"Oh Rufus, we so need to talk. No, I need to talk and you need to listen to me." Jiya abandoned the laptop she was working on, grabbed Rufus by the shirt collar and dragged him off to Agent Christopher's now empty office as she was working with the others in breaking the Rittenhouse code in the so-called library.

Slamming the door shut, she pushed Rufus onto the sofa and said: "You need to back off from attempting to push Lucy and Wyatt together."

"Why?" He asked looking confused "What is wrong with Lucy and Wyatt finding a little happiness in the middle of this mess? Because if you ask me, I can't help thinking that they belong together."

"And to think that you are a genius." She said scowling at him. When she saw his affronted expression, she exhaled and then said "I need to tell you something and you need to listen. I mean really, really listen and let me talk and not interrupt or deny that I am telling you the truth."

"Okay..." He looked at her then waited for her to speak as she paced back and forth muttering to herself. "Jiya? What is going on and why are you so upset about the idea of Wyatt and Lucy dating."

Groaning, she fell onto the sofa next to him and reaching for his hands told him. "This is going to be a bit of a shock for you but Lucy can't fall for Wyatt. She is married."

Rufus gave her a side look as if wishing to ask what sort of drugs she was taking but she held up her hand. "Wait, if this is about Noah..."

"No, this isn't about Rittenhouse born and bred Dr. Noah." She crossly replied. "I have been having visions, not premonitions, but visions, they are of events that have already happened in the past, events that Rittenhouse has already sent people back to alter."

"So in this timeline, Lucy isn't married." He cautiously asked.

"She is, sort of and she isn't and her husband...well Wyatt isn't the right man for Lucy, Rufus. I need you to trust me." She said struggling to keep from giving away the entire altered timeline from before they had even become involved. "Anyhow, do you know why Agent Christopher gave me a few pages of the journal to read and not to Wyatt or yourself? It is because, in the timeline that is written in the journal, Lucy ends up with someone, but it isn't Wyatt. Wyatt instead does something extremely stupid and breaks Lucy's heart. You need to back off and let things happen as they were meant to, not be encouraging Wyatt."

"We can prevent him from breaking her heart by telling him not to do whatever it is that he does, Jiya." He replied looking so earnest in helping his friend that Jiya had to bit her tongue to keep from telling him that it was Garcia Flynn.

"Rufus, in the original timeline, the one from before Lucy wrote the journal, she was happily married and expecting her husband's child. Her mother found out that she was pregnant and managed to affect the future because the father of the child was someone she didn't want, she wanted Lucy with a Rittenhouse member. She had something done to her husband, then took a trip in time to close the time loop to prevent Lucy from remembering him."

"If Lucy doesn't remember him, why does it matter?" Rufus asked sounding bewildered. "Wyatt was married and his wife died, so why shouldn't they find happiness together. We just need to prevent whatever was done to them in the journal from happening."

"In the journal, Wyatt betrays Lucy and all of us." She quietly stated something that when she had read about it had stunned her. "I don't know what he does, but it caused your death and my ending up living in 1888 for several years."

"No, there is no way that Wyatt would do such a thing." Rufus instantly denied his friend would ever hurt Lucy let alone himself. "He isn't like that, maybe it is Flynn, maybe he set him up."

"It's not Flynn, in fact..." Jiya found herself hesitating before deciding to tell him the rest. "According to the pages in the diary that I read, Lucy and Wyatt, not the current Lucy and Wyatt time travel to our time, and that is why Lucy knows her future that she hints at in the journal. She is with Garcia Flynn. Evidently, she begins to fall for him when Wyatt betrays us for his wife."

"No way, no possible fricken' way." He stood as if to storm off and Jiya reached up to yank him back onto the sofa. "You have to be wrong, Jiya. Wyatt is in love with Lucy."

Holding out her hands in a placating manner, she says "All I know is that the journal has proven true and that whatever is going on, Agent Christopher is attempting to prevent it by bringing Flynn to the bunker earlier than he arrived in the journal's timeline. Now, we need to stay out of their love lives in case we do anything to make the situation worse because I would bring you back to life just to kill you if you did anything that caused me to lose you, do you understand me?"

"Not really." He admitted with a shake of his head but he did finally accept that they needed to stay out of the love lives of their bunker roommates. "I still think that Lucy should end up with Wyatt."

Rolling her eyes, she pressed a kiss to his lips and then said: "Rufus, we need to stay out of things."

TBC


	3. Chapter 3: Rosebud and the Witches

**Chapter Four**

Wyatt was not happy as he sat in the library with the Mason, Christopher, Lucy, and Flynn listening to them talk about things that were way over his head. He had never dealt with word codes like they had and he found himself grudgingly admitting that Flynn seemed to be rather skilled at breaking them. Lucy would look up at him every few minutes and unlike the last few days when she had looked away, with an almost soft expression on her face, now she was scowling at him, clearly angry at his rejection of having Flynn working with them.

He yawned and was drifting off to sleep when he heard Lucy talking to Flynn and growling sat up and rejected her suggestion. "I will take cooking tonight's dinner."

"Fine," Lucy replied as she reached for the part of the code that they had already cracked. She could hear Jiya and Rufus in the command center and from the sounds of things, they were wrapping up their work day. "Maybe we should take a break and return to look at it with fresh eyes tomorrow."

After a dinner that was tense as Wyatt kept slamming dishes around in the kitchen as he cooked beef tacos and was heating the tortillas. When the six who lived in the bunker joined him, he frowned when he saw that Lucy had a book with her and that she was reading it while eating. Jiya and her kept speaking softly to one another. Mason was dominating Flynn's attention, thankfully. Rufus kept looking from Jiya to Lucy and back then shaking his head.

When they had finished eating, Jiya was doing up the dishes and frowning at Rufus and himself in between answering questions from Lucy about the six weeks she had been held by Rittenhouse.

"So, they made fourteen jumps, that you were aware of." She replied then biting her lip told them. "I saw Emma leaving with twenty-one teams. Three and sometimes four a week. Connor, you have no idea where or any way to track them down, is that right?"

"Not completely, I am working on a project that will hopefully give me a way to correlate their jumps." He replied while sitting at the settee, flipping through the channels, trying to find something to watch.

"I thought we were taking the night off, going at this again in the morning, with fresh eyes," Flynn asked from where he was holding a book of his own, but his paperback was a thick novel.

"We are from the code, but I just..." Lucy bit her lip, unsure how to tell him that she was rather worried about what her mother and great grandfather were up to.

"I get it, after all, if anyone here understands being pushed into an obsession by Rittenhouse it is me." He replied then carrying his bottle of beer walked towards his quarters, needing to get away from those in the bunker. Lucy and Jiya he was fine with, but the suspicious looks being tossed his way from Rufus and the outright dislike from Wyatt Logan was pissing him off.

* * *

Lucy stretched and closing her thick history book, she looked at the old fashioned clock in the corner of the room and winced. She wasn't at all tired, mainly because she didn't wish to dream of shooting that soldier boy in France again. Wandering the bunker, she saw that Wyatt and Rufus had called it a night and were fast asleep in their room with the door opened just enough to watch the hallway. Flynn's door was closed tight and the light was off but Jiya had the light on in their room so Lucy bypassed it knowing that she wasn't up for girl talk that evening.

Eventually, she ended up on the settee, watching an old black and white movie. As John Wayne and Montgomery Clift led their cattle north to Kansas, she heard footsteps and was grimacing at the thought of dealing with anything personal. To her relief, it was Connor Mason who was carrying his laptop with one hand and an empty coffee cup in the other. Hearing the Brit muttering threats against the ancient coffee pot as he attempted to make something resembling coffee, she let out a quiet chuckle and moving to the galley offered to help.

"Please, if I had my fortune, I would offer you a million dollars to make it, I am that desperate." He replied with a slight smile on his face as he settled down at the table and opened his laptop.

Lucy heard the sound of gunshots in the movie and flinched. Normally she was prepared for the violence in the scenes but she had gotten distracted by making the coffee and it had come up rather quickly. As she attempted to pretend that she wasn't having flashbacks of shooting that boy, she went to pour Mason a cup of coffee. With her hand around its edge, she felt another person's hand cover hers.

"Lucy, I will get it." Mason gently pried the coffee cup away from her and then asked her to be seated. When she was going to evade his directive, he looked at her and said "Lucy, whatever you did, it wasn't your fault, you didn't have a choice."

"There is always a choice. I made a bad choice and an innocent boy's life was cut down way too soon." She said her voice quivering as she finally said it out loud.

"How do you know that?" He asked. Seeing her about to answer, he pointed out "Lucy, you off all people know that over ten million soldiers died in that war. Over fifteen percent died, many, many more came home suffering from horrific injuries that meant that they never lived a normal happy life."

"I know that rationally, I do, but..." She trailed off as she once again saw herself firing her gun at the surprised soldier.

"Lucy, I won't tell you not to hurt, because only you can come to terms with this, but every single death is also on my hands, I was the one who built the time machine, who did so not out of some great urge to travel in time, but to see if I could."

When she frowned at that, he said "I was a teenager when I first had the idea to create a machine to travel through time. There was a British show, called Doctor Who, he traveled through time using a blue police box, right wrongs, saving the day. I thought of it as a challenge. When Back to the Future came out, I revived my plans, but soon realized that a car wasn't a feasible object to send through time. There was this old American show that used to run on late night telly when I was a teenager, with this time travel gadget, I used that to base the lifeboat on."

Seeing Mason's eyes which seemed to glow with a hint of obsession, Lucy was struggling not to shudder but her fear fell away when she saw his pain and his anger with himself. "I wanted to build the machine to prove I could, I had no idea, none what sort of monster I would create."

Mason's eyes went down to what he was working upon, then picking his coffee cup took a sip then looking between Lucy and his laptop he admitted: "I have to try to fix things, to absolve myself my guilt, but even I know that a day of reckoning must come."

Lucy went to pour herself a cup of the freshly brewed coffee and looking at Mason went quiet as he returned to typing. "Lucy, I work better with background noise, so why don't you tell me about something...anything."

The historian wasn't sure what topic to choose, but decided to tell him the story of HG Wells and his books including Time Machine, eventually when she ran out of the trivial information regarding that subject, she began to tell him about their trips into history and what it was like to meet certain historical figures.

They never noticed that time was passing as Lucy told him about the history of the world and their part in it. When he began to explain what he was up to and what he hoped it would accomplish, Lucy who didn't understand the technical facts did, however, understand what he was attempting to do to history. They never noticed dawn rising as they were deep in the bunker in the underground.

It was early the next morning and Jiya who had been frowning when she had noticed that Lucy's bed had not been slept in was exiting their room when she heard Mason shouting yes and to the surprise of herself and the other males living in the bunker, they found Lucy and Mason smiling widely at one another and offering up that each was a genius.

"No, you're the genius, I just was talking." Lucy was protesting while Mason was grinning so broadly that the observers were blinded by the whiteness of his teeth as he danced around the table with Lucy in his arms and then when he quickly bussed her on each of her cheeks then said "We are both geniuses, brilliant beyond measure, astute beyond recognition, and quite frankly, without you I wouldn't have hit upon the idea."

As the duo was bowing to one another, Wyatt looked at Rufus who shrugged as if to say he has no idea. Jiya finally just asked. "What is going on in here?"

"The very lovely and brilliant Ms. Preston just helped me solve a problem that has been holding us back from taking the offensive against Rittenhouse. Now if you will excuse me, unless the mothership jumps, I need to get a weeks worth of sleep." With that, he pressed yet another kiss to Lucy's cheek, closed up his laptop and then chuckling went to find his cot.

"Lucy, what is going on?" Garcia Flynn asked from where he was leaning against the door still wearing his sleeping clothes and to her surprise looking way too good in a pair of crumbled up gray sweats and a thin black long t-shirt.

"In all honesty, I haven't the faintest idea what it was that I said that gave him his idea nor what that idea is except that he mentioned he had found his way around the time warp, whatever that means. Now, I am off to bed, I can't believe we have been working on this all night." She said yawning as she stumbled across the kitchen on her way to her shared room.

She accidentally bumped into Flynn whose arms came out to steady her before his eyes met Jiya's and he gestured for her to come to help her roommate find her room. Lucy murmured her thanks than yawning yet again docilely followed Jiya and allowed her to put her to bed. Thankfully she was too exhausted to dream as she finally fell to sleep.

The rest of the team filled in Denise when she arrived on what little they knew then got to work. Jiya and Rufus found Mason's note on what needed to be done to make the travel in the lifeboat smoother and got to work.

Agent Christopher was once again in the library with Flynn working on breaking the code in the back of the Rittenhouse manifesto. Wyatt in the meantime was wandering back and forth between the two groups until he managed to send even Agent Christopher over the edge with his restlessness.

Being sent to clean his guns felt like he was being sent to the corner for punishment, but Wyatt obeyed her directive. As he sat there at the kitchen table, mechanically and forcefully cleaning his guns he frowned, annoyed to realize that once again Flynn was in on the important work and here he was being once again treated as if he didn't have any brains.

* * *

Early the next morning, while Mason was once again attempting to make coffee, he dropped the glass carafe when the claxton announced that the Mothership had jumped.

"Los Angeles January 4th, 1941," Jiya stated from where she was messing with the machine while still wearing her pajamas. The time team had taken the time to dress and were gathered near the lifeboat.

"Lucy?" Agent Christopher turned to their resident historian who admits that she knows of nothing in history that would take Rittenhouse to that day and time. "Looks like we are going to have to figure it out on the fly. Flynn, you're going with the team."

The Homeland Security Agent saw Sergeant Logan's jaw tighten but otherwise, the soldier remained silent about her directive. Denise looked at Flynn and acknowledged that they would be once again altering history from Lucy's journal, but that hopefully by doing do it would prevent more serious problems later one. To the team's surprise, they soon realized that the warehouse they had landed in was on the RKO Productions lot. Lucy was thrilled as it meant that they could find clothes that would work without a lot of effort.

A bit of digging around and they soon found out that the film RKO 281 was missing. "That is what Rittenhouse is up to," Lucy announced.

"A bit of film. Why would they go through all of this for a film?" Rufus asked while they walked down the pathway towards a group that was filming.

"RKO 281 was also called Citizen Kane," Flynn stated from where he was walking just in front of Lucy. He turned to say to Lucy. "I can think of a few different ways that stealing this could help Rittenhouse."

"We need to find this film and return it." She grimly announced just as the group walked into a trio of men wearing suits and shiny shoes. Thankfully the man in charge Barney Balaban seemed to think that Rufus was Langston Hughes and invited him and his group into his office. Wyatt declined and Lucy and Rufus went on by themselves, both of them worried about Wyatt and Flynn getting along as they kept searching for the needle of film canisters on a production studio set.

By the time that they had exited Balaban's office, Rufus as Hughes had told the man he was working on a musical about Alexander Hamilton and had found out that there was a producer working on a movie called Jurassic Park.

When they rejoined Wyatt and Flynn they were told that the other two had seen the sleeper and that he had the film in the trunk of his vehicle. "He drove off because we couldn't get close enough to take him down."

"We have his name, Lucas Calhoun and he is going to be attending a party this evening to be held at the Roosevelt Hotel being held for William Randolph Hearst," Lucy announced.

Wyatt and Rufus were talking about Lucas using Jurassic Park as his cover while they were following Lucy and Flynn back to the costume department where they ended up wearing tuxedos.

"I look like a waiter." Wyatt was complaining and Lucy saw that Flynn was about to insult her friend, so she elbowed him in the stomach and went to change into the white dress that reminded her of Katherine Hepburn in the Philadelphia Story.

"Not that one." Flynn stopped her from going to change. "It's too recognizable, how about one of these?"

With that, Lucy took the offer of three different dresses and tried them on, ending up wearing the one that reminded her of Ginger Rogers as she found matching shoes and to her surprise was handed jewelry by Flynn. "I could have chosen one of the other dresses."

"No, I knew, that would be your choice." He replied with a slight smile on his face as he took in Lucy wearing the moss green colored bias cut evening gown with sequins across the straps and a low back. While Lucy slipped in the tiny stud diamond earrings and bracelet on, Flynn held onto the cape that matched the dress.

As they stole a vehicle from the set Lucy was less than amused to see Wyatt and Flynn once again arguing over who was driving them. "We don't have time for this."

Wyatt drove while Flynn sat in the back seat with Rufus who was staring at him. "What?"

"Nothing," Rufus replied then went back to staring at him. When they arrived at the hotel, the photographers were snapping their pictures and to Wyatt's frustration, he soon was shunted off to the side, the paparazzi believing that he was the chauffeur.

Lucy took Flynn's arm and guided Rufus into the hotel and Wyatt was forced to drive the Cadillac V-16 to the parking garage and using the staff entrance entered the hotel just in time to overhear two men threatening a third older man.

'It's your choice, Mr. Hearst. You have until 8 AM tomorrow morning to decide to give us what we want or we will arrange for Welles to get his movie back." The blond man announced. "I expect an answer and a letter detailing what you are agreeing to at my office on the Paramount lot tomorrow morning."

"I could decide to destroy you, Calhoun, instead." The older man announced while glaring down at the Rittenhouse agent.

"I am the only thing keeping Welles from releasing his little movie." Calhoun coldly announced before walking away. Wyatt was debating follow after him but before he could exit the garage, Calhoun and his two bodyguards had disappeared.

Wyatt returned to the party, was about to enter when he was handed a tray of drinks and told to circulate. Grimacing but at knowing that at least he would be able to mingle with the guests unimpeded, he was handing a drink to a slightly balding man named Fred when he saw Rufus talking to a beautiful woman. The dark-haired beauty was clearly amused as she talked to his friend, looking around curious as to where Lucy and Flynn were, Wyatt ground his teeth together when he saw that they were dancing together.

* * *

Lucy was smiling as she agreed to dance with Flynn as part of their cover. "I am sorry about that, I didn't know how else to explain your presence."

"It is fine, Lucy." He replied while reaching to hold her hand in his while his other hand lightly rested against her waist. "Though, married lover with you as my mistress seems a bit extreme. Why not just say that you are my wife."

"I don't have a ring." She replied then found herself listening to the soprano who was singing At Last. The woman's breathless version of the song was all that kept this from being uncomfortable. She could feel the heat of Flynn's body against her, could feel the weight of his hand on her waist and found it difficult to look into his eyes as they whirled around the dance floor. As the song was ending, her eyes met his and when the singer began a new number, the two of them stayed on the dance floor, forgetting that they were only dancing for cover as they lost themselves into the music and rhythm of each other. When two more songs had been sung, Lucy saw Rufus frantically attempting to get their attention and she nodded that they were on their way over. "Something has gone wrong, Rufus is trying to get our attention."

Walking over as discreetly as they could, they listened to what he had to say and Lucy said: "Let's tell her the truth."

Seeing them looking at her as if she was insane, she shook her head and stated "We tell her we were sent to locate Welles' film by the government. It is the truth, well sort of."

"I saw Wyatt, he is playing a waiter," Rufus replied then went to locate their teammate who filled them in on what he had overheard.

"This isn't good," Lucy replied. "Hearst is desperate to stop that film from being released. If Rittenhouse were to get a column in his newspapers, as influential and as wide-reaching as Hearst Publications is, we would have no way to counter it. We have to get that film back."

"We have to go talk to Hedy, stop her from announcing that I am a fraud," Rufus replied. "We need to get back onto the studio lot tomorrow."

Later that evening, after having convinced Hedy that they were, in fact, government agents, they accepted the offer of her pool house to stay in overnight.

"Lucy should take the bedroom," Wyatt stated the obvious, then pointed out that there were two bunks in the second room. "Rufus and I will take them."

"Sound fine. I will just sleep on the sofa." Flynn stated.

Wyatt hesitated then said, "You take the bunk, I will take the sofa."

"You want for me to room with Rufus?" Flynn asked in a doubtful manner.

Wyatt groaned and realized that he had no choice but to allow Flynn to be unsupervised and with a gun for the evening. With that, he went to his bunk in the small room and settled down, falling asleep rather quickly.

Flynn sank onto the sofa, watching as the light under the door in Lucy's room went out and then fifteen minutes later came back on. The dark-haired beauty came to the door wearing a robe and silk pajamas and got herself a drink of vodka from the nearby bar. She politely said goodnight and then went back to her room still carrying the rocks glass filled with clear alcohol.

Lucy sat in her darkened room, her mind racing as she struggled to shut off her dreams knowing that if she had a nightmare this evening, all would hear her. The vodka didn't help, it only made her more restless and after two hours of sitting in the dark, she slipped out of the bed, then tied the thick robe over the borrowed pajamas and went to open her door.

Flynn looked like he was asleep, so Lucy exited the pool house and following the stone path soon found herself seated on a porch swing in a gazebo from which she could see the Hollywoodland sign that the property developer HJ Whitley had put up in 1923.

"Lucy?" Flynn sat down next to her on the swing, then using his foot, set the swing in motion.

With a bittersweet smile as she looked at the dark-haired man seated next to her, she told him. "I have been having trouble sleeping since my mother kidnapped me."

"Lucy, whatever she did, whatever she forced you to do, you HAD NO CHOICE." He quietly stated. Seeing her dismissive shrug, he added "Lucy, I can tell that repeatedly but until you accept it for yourself, you will keep believing that you are a terrible person."

The two sat there quietly looking at the night sky, with Flynn occasionally using his foot to set the swing rocking yet again. They could hear the distant sound of Rufus and Hedy Lemarr talking about science and innovation as they sat there.

Eventually, Hedy went to bed, and they saw Rufus heading down to the pool house. When he had gone to sleep, Lucy looked at Flynn and biting her lip admitted "I just feel so alone. It was always Amy that I turned to, to talk about my day, about problems with my mother and I don't have that anymore."

"I am sorry for that, for the loss of your sister." He replied his soft baritone accented voice sounding stressed as he apologized. "I am sure that you will get her back, Lucy."

With a scoff, Lucy told him. "My mother told me that she made the choice not to bring Amy into the world this time, that she choose to spend all of her time on me. Amy is lost forever."

"Oh, Lucy." With that, he lifted the now sobbing woman across his lap and let her cry herself to sleep against his chest. When he could hear her breathing even out and felt her muscles go lapse, he stood and carried her back to the pool house and pressing a kiss to her forehead, returned to the sofa and vowed to find a way to fix things for Lucy.

Early the next morning, Lucy and the men arrived on the Paramount set and stole back RKO 281 before Lucas could make his deal with Hearst. They had anonymously returned the film reels to the studio while Wyatt and Flynn were making plans to take out Lucas Calhoun.

Before they could fire their weapons, they saw a car barreling down on Lucas and the sleeper agent go flying through the air and land on a spiked fence. Taking his pulse, Wyatt felt his eyes widen as he looked at the license plate of the car that had hit the blond sleeper. He had seen that same car the night before, at the garage, the driver had been accepting payment from Hearst himself. "Hearst took care of his problem. He has now made a very powerful enemy."

Flynn merely nodded then the two of them returned to the RKO lot where they found Lucy and Wyatt waiting along with a small valise. "What is that?"

"We found that the clothes racks we were borrowing were going to the burn pile tomorrow. Lucy thought that we should help ourselves." Rufus stated as he buckled himself in.

Wyatt was the last to buckle his seat, resting his head against the headrest, he was half asleep as they arrived back in the bunker. A very long debriefing later, he mentioned what he had seen.

"Hearst lived another ten years he never got over having Citizen Kane released and he did get a measure of revenge towards some involved in its creation, but while he lived, the movie was a critical success but it didn't do so well at the box office until a few years after his death when it was re-released." Lucy was telling the rest of the team.

Rufus who was looking something up on his iPad gave them a large grin and announced: "Hedy Lemarr died a dot com billionaire."

Wyatt went to his room in the bunker and changed out of his 1941 outfit and was going to lay down when he heard a beep on his phone. Looking the message, he sat there stunned at what he was reading then quickly made plans to exit the bunker.

Rufus and Lucy were reading Hedy's biography on Wikipeda when Agent Christopher appeared. "Someone just entered or exited through the hatch."

"What?" Those gathered were quickly huddling around Mason's computer screen and to their surprise they saw Wyatt exiting the bunker.

"Did he say anything to any of you about leaving?" Agent Christopher asked. She knew where he was going but didn't know if he had warned anyone because Lucy didn't mention it in her journal.

"No," Lucy replied then went to get her cell phone and to attempt to call Wyatt who didn't pick up. "What is he doing?"

"I don't know, but I am going to find out," Rufus stated while glaring at the screenshot of his roommate exiting the bunker.

Lucy picked up her filched valise filled with 1940's clothes and with a guilty expression on her face as she saw Denise Christopher shaking her head in bemusement at her theft went to hang up the clothes she had pilfered for herself.

Jiya joined her a few minutes later, then asked: "Why would you steal clothes?"

Lucy gave her a grimace then admitted "I am so tired of wearing these Walmart specials that Agent Christopher found for me. I know that she did her best, but well, they were just sitting there on that rack and I knew that they would fit because they were labeled as being from the wardrobe of Ginger Rogers in a few of her movies... so..."

Early the next morning, Wyatt was watching his sleeping wife as he hesitated to hit the green phone symbol on his phone. Looking at the name Rufus Carlin, he went back to his contacts and found the phone number for Lucy and decided to call her, that she would be less likely to ask him any questions he didn't want to answer.

"Wyatt, where are you?" He heard when she finally answered.

"It's Jessica, she is alive. Something we did in Los Angeles allowed her to come back to me." He quickly stated. Moving towards the bathroom, he closed the door and told her the rest. "I am not coming back, Lucy. I can't, I can't lose her again."

"Wyatt..." Lucy's voice trailed off and then he heard her sigh and before she could finish speaking, he asked her. "What would you do, Lucy, if it was your sister who came back from the dead?"

"Look, I think you need to at least consider talking to Agent Christopher. Rittenhouse isn't going to just let you go, Wyatt. You know too much and would to too valuable of a catch for them. At least come to the bunker and talk to Denise, maybe she can arrange for you to go into witness protection or something." She suggested then when he had hung up, Wyatt returned to his bedroom and sat in the wing-backed chair there amazed at having got a second chance with his wife.

* * *

Lucy was telling Denise what was going on with Wyatt when they heard the claxton go off. 

Rufus was muttering threats against Rittenhouse. "Can't they at least take the day off."

"Where are they, Jiya?" Lucy asked as she saw Flynn entering the command center still carrying his book.

"Salem Massachusetts, September 22, 1692." She replied.

Rufus growled and said "Even I know that that means the Salem witch trials. What could they possibly do to make that event even worse?"

Flynn was reaching for a gun when Agent Christopher approached him and said "You are there to protect Rufus and Lucy, first and foremost, Flynn. Bring them both home safely."

Rufus was muttering about Wyatt deserting them as he buckled into his seat and complaining about Rittenhouse as he piloted the machine back to the 17th century.

Flynn threw up the moment they exited the lifeboat and was asking if they went through that sort of turbulence every single time or if it was a result of adding the fourth seat.

"Turbulence, what turbulence?" Lucy asked with a smirk on her face as Flynn threw up yet again.

"I figured it was a one-time thing on the trip to Los Angeles but it is becoming very clear that Mason made quite a few updates to Mothership." He moaned as he changed into the stinky and itchy clothes that they had found.

"Well, puritans only bathed like once a month." Lucy was telling Rufus and him as they began to walk the trail towards Salem.

By the end of the mission, Rufus was rather glad that Flynn was along after he had saved Lucy and himself from hanging for witchcraft. They had sent Abiah Franklin and the other women toward New Hampshire and taken down the sleeper agent but unfortunately, Carol Preston had shown up and had betrayed her daughter. Lucy had rejected her mother's offer of freedom in exchange for joining Rittenhouse. Emma in the meantime was uncharacteristically quiet even as she attempted to shoot it out with Flynn. 

Rufus ended up watching helplessly as Judge Samuel Sewell died by being hit by a runaway horse carriage, feeling guilt in spite of Lucy's announcement that he was a terrible man whose death more than likely saved several other women from being accused as being a witch.

Lucy did end up cut, but not by a knife but as a result of tripping over her skirts and cutting her upper arm against a scythe that a nearby farmer had put down to watch the hanging. Emma and Carol escaped because Flynn instead of chasing after them, caught Lucy as she attempted to stand and made sure that they did a hasty retreat back to the lifeboat.

Upon their return, they saw Wyatt with his wife who was staring in awe at what she was seeing. "How did you do that?"

Wyatt meanwhile was feeling guilty when he saw that Lucy was bleeding and moved forward to help, only for Flynn to prevent him from doing so.

"Who is on the twenty dollar bill?" Lucy breathlessly asked even as she held the bloody cravat that Flynn had used to stop the blood flow to her arm.

"Benjamin Franklin," Mason replied then watched as Denise Christopher led Lucy off to be treated.

"So?" Jiya asked Rufus.

"It went fine until Carol Preston tried to get her daughter hanged for being a witch." He grimly replied. "Thank god for Flynn. He went all Robocop on their Rittenhouse asses up until Lucy tripped over her hem. Then he let them go. Emma was pissed about something, though."

"Yes, but was it about our showing up or something else?" Flynn asked from where he was standing watching as Agent Christopher cleaned Lucy's wound and bandaged it. When she was given the all clear and told to take it easy for a few days, the team gathered around and Jessica joined them. It was clear that Agent Christopher wasn't happy about this, but she let it go as they filled her in on their mission and what they had done. Once they were finished, she asked Jiya to show Jessica around the bunker then ordered Logan to be seated.

"Why did you bring your WIFE to the bunker?" She demanded.

"I love her, I wanted her to be safe." He fiercely replied. "Plus, she didn't believe me that I am not the Wyatt who has been a total asshole to her for the last few years. I needed to convince her to stay with me and to give our marriage a second chance."

"If you truly loved her, you would have walked away and let her live a life without Rittenhouse chasing after the two of you," Flynn replied in a cold tone. "I know that you want what was taken so abruptly from you, but what you did was put a target on her back. Plus, now she has to stay here, so essentially you are forcing her to live a life in what amounts to a sort of prison."

When Wyatt went to protest that, Agent Christopher shut it down and pointed out to Wyatt. "You as a soldier know that you have to accept orders and that if you were to be overseas on an assignment that you couldn't bring your wife with you. This should have been treated as the same."

"Well, she is here now, let's do what we can to make her comfortable and hope that she isn't Rittenhouse." Lucy pointed out.

Dinner that evening was awkward to say the least, not to mention that they only had six chairs and seven people now living in the bunker. Jessica was talking a mile a minute, about everything and nothing as she nervously tried to fill the silence around her.

The blond took in the group of people that were living in the bunker. Connor Mason, she knew from the tabloids and from television and that Wyatt knew the man was mind-boggling and that was even before she considered that he had lost his fortune and apparently had built a time machine.

The young girl Gia, Jia, whatever her name was, seemed to hold herself aloof but Jessica didn't mind, not after hearing her speaking to the black guy she knew was named Rufus. Clearly, the two of them were dating and she was no threat to her marriage. Jessica watches as they ate dinner sitting on the leather settee in front of the television while arguing about watching some British show. 

Looking at the tall dark haired man with the accent had Jessica feeling as if he could care less if she existed but at least he was polite when she spoke directly to him. He spent most of his time eating the meal that he had cooked and worried about the thin dark haired woman seated next to him.

Jessica's assessing eyes went over to Lucy Preston. The woman she had believed her husband to be infatuated with, at least until she had met Lucy. The woman who was a history professor skin was washed out and she looked as if a serious wind gust would knock her over. Mentally rolling her eyes at being wrong about Wyatt's interest in Lucy, she turned her attention back towards her husband only to find that he was also watching Lucy and glaring at the man with the accent. 

Please read and review so that I may see if there is still any interest in this story


	4. Chapter 4: JFK & Robert Johnson

**Chapter Five**

Lucy struggled to get up the next morning, her arm ached from where she had fallen on the scythe. Dressing turned out to be painful and she was grateful that Jiya had had a late night working on smoothing out the bumps in the programming of the lifeboat as it meant she was still asleep when Lucy finally exited their room. 

Entering the galley kitchen, she saw Rufus was stretched out across the two settees and the coffee table, clearly uncomfortable as he struggled to sleep. Hearing him cursing when his legs fell off, she fixed the coffee and turned to tell him "Rufus, go sleep in my bunk."

"Are you sure, Lucy?" He asked, the dark circles under his eyes proof of his lack of sleep.

"Go, before I take the offer back." She replied then when he had gone she decided to make herself breakfast. As she was cracking her eggs for her omelet she heard Wyatt and Jessica who were clearly in the throes of having sex. "Great, no wonder Rufus can't sleep."

Shaking her head at the loud moans, she poured herself a cup of coffee while cutting up some ham and sausage to put into her omelet with the shredded colby cheese. "Is there enough for both of us?"

Turning to greet Flynn, she said: "We need to crack a few more eggs, but sure."

Flynn stepped back and watched over Lucy's cooking very familiar with her small movements in a kitchen while he went to drop some bread into the toaster. They were clearly attempting to ignore the loud moans but thankfully they came to a climax and ended.

Flynn took the two plate to the table while Lucy poured Flynn a cup of coffee and grabbed their forks. They had just settled in and were eating when Mason wandered in and said "I hear the Logans decided to take a break in their matrimonial bliss, thank goodness. Now, dear Lucy, the love of my coffee loving life, thank you for preparing this bounty of goodness."

Flynn was amused as Mason stood there drinking a cup of the hot black coffee and signing with pleasure. "Without coffee, I am really just a tall two-year-old about to throw a temper tantrum."

Lucy and Flynn went right back to eating their breakfast while Mason filled them in on what he had been doing regarding the code. "Lucy, would it be possible for you to create a list of events, not just historical but significant social events if I give you a list of cities."

"I could try, but it won't be perfect." She replied.

"I have the list of potential cities that Rittenhouse traveled to while we were down but not the dates. Also, we need to work on finding the backgrounds of those who Rittenhouse sent back in time." He replied then went off to the command center while carrying an apple and a banana.

Later that morning, Lucy was reading up on the events in certain cities and making notes just as Jiya finally arrived in the command center. Agent Christopher was talking to Connor about some supplies he needed and she was trying to figure out a way to get him the electronics without endangering the team.

Lucy stood to stretch, stepped over Flynn's outstretched legs that were resting on the coffee table as he also was reading up on historical events. Thankfully he held out a hand to steady her and she was amused to notice that he had done so without even breaking off on what he was reading.

Approaching those in the command center, she saw Jessica was standing off the side, looking uncomfortable and that Wyatt was nowhere to be found. "Jessica?"

"Hi, Lucy." She said then stopping looked around and said "I saw Rufus working on that machine and everyone else looks busy, so I was wondering if anyone would care of I cooked some lunch, for everyone if they didn't mind. I would ask Wyatt but he is still asleep. I just am used to either being at work or taking care of Wyatt."

"I am sure that no one would mind if you were to cook something," Lucy replied then when the blond had walked off, joined the others and when Agent Christopher mentioned going to a strip mall, Lucy asked for permission to join the party. "I just need to get out of here for a while."

"It is dangerous Lucy." She warned then looking at the others and knowing that if the team jumped Lucy wouldn't be able to go for a few days, suggested that Jiya and she change into something more acceptable to the outside world. "Now I am a proud supporter of messy hair and sweat pants just like most women but you might wish to change into something that would draw a little less attention."

Lucy looked down and saw she was wearing the black Gavin B signature t-shirt that had once belonged to Jiya and looked like a man's penis. Groaning, she heard a quiet chuckle from the library and walking towards her room, picked up her book and hit him gently on the head with it.

"Hey, you were the one wearing it." He called out while still smirking as he realized she hadn't noticed what she was wearing.

An hour into their trip, Agent Christopher groaned when she received a text message. "1934 Wallingford, Connecticut."

Lucy thought about it and did some subtraction and replied. "The Kennedy brothers were students, both Joe and John at Choate boarding school. This isn't good."

"They already jumped, Rufus, along with Flynn and Wyatt," Denise announced while they waited impatiently for Jiya to exit the electronics warehouse store. When she did, with a frown upon her face, she quickly was informed what was going on and Agent Christopher drove off to return to the bunker.

"Jiya, what is it?" Lucy asked as she saw the younger woman still looked pissed when they were pulling onto the small off-road that would take them to the bunker.

"Have you ever met anyone who made you wonder how on earth they were the sperm that won the race to the egg?" She asked then told her the rest. "This moron hit on me the last time I went to the store, then today, he suggested that he might give me a discount if I were to consider going on a date with him."

"Just remember that you can't fix stupid," Lucy replied as they exited the Suburban and hurried into the elevator. Once they arrived in the command center, Agent Christopher was about to ask what happened when the lifeboat arrived back.

"Help," Rufus called out as soon as the door was open. He was holding up a bleeding Wyatt and an unconscious teenage boy.

Connor and the others pushed the ladder forward and Jessica rushed up to help her husband who was barely conscious while Connor reached for the teenager.

"What happened?" Denise asked then looking around asked, "Where is Flynn?"

"He told me to get out of there with them. Someone gave the boy a shot of something and Wyatt was hit. There were sleeper agents swarming all over the place when we arrived at the school." He replied while Agent Christopher went to deal with Wyatt.

"Holy shit, you brought John Kennedy back with you?" Lucy yelled at Rufus.

"Flynn shoved him into the lifeboat before diving off the platform into the pool," Rufus replied while looking anxiously at the teenager.

"Okay, Wyatt is going to be fine." Agent Christopher announced while looking curiously at the teenager and then a bit closer as it hit her who they had brought back with them. "Is that who I think it is?"

"If you think that it is former or is it future President John F Kennedy, yes it is," Lucy said glaring at Rufus who held up his hands and mouthed the word, Flynn.

Connor drew blood and ran it through their machines and said with a sense of relief. "They gave him cocaine from the looks of things. Why do that?"

Lucy looked at Rufus who told them the rest of the story as soon as he had begun charging the lifeboat. "We landed in the room that contained the indoor pool and had just figured out who we were saving when JFK's history teacher tried to shoot him. Flynn took him out and was pushing the boy out of the way when several more sleepers showed up."

"Wyatt grabbed JFK and was pulling him to safety when he was hit and then one of the sleepers mentioned something about if they couldn't get him killed, getting him expelled would work just as well," Rufus explained. Flynn tossed the boy over his shoulder and we returned to the lifeboat when the sleepers showed up outside.

"He told me to get them out of there and to remember to come back for him," Rufus replied while Agent Christopher was giving the supine future president a shot of a drug cocktail to counter the cocaine.

Lucy was assigned to sit in the room for when the young teenager woke up while Jessica was in with Wyatt. Rufus was pacing back and forth while explaining to Agent Christopher about why he had agreed to leave Garcia Flynn behind.

John began to stir and Lucy told him to stay still that they get him home as quickly as possible. "My father won't pay my ransom."

"We didn't kidnap you." She refuted his accusation. "We were trying to save your life."

"Sure, you come in like gangbusters and kill my history teacher and I am supposed to believe that you are the good guys." He retorted. "What did you drug me with?"

"We didn't drug you. We gave you the antidote for what the bad guys drugged you with. Now, just rest, it is going to be a few hours before we can send you back." She said then went to the door before reconsidering leaving him alone.

Pulling out her cell phone, she sent a text message to Jiya and asked her to bring her one of her history books and something for lunch. When Jiya arrived carrying her history book and notebook plus a rather interesting late lunch.

"Jessica apparently was cooking while we were gone. She made up a bunch of different meals that we can microwave when we get hungry." Jiya said while shaking her head. "I brought you some veggie soup and a grilled cheese sandwich."

"We are going to have to feed John," Lucy said with her eyes on the boy she was certain was faking being asleep. "Could you bring him something to eat but avoid anything with nuts, he has stomach issues, possibly diverticulitis."

"Okay, be right back with his meal," Jiya stated.

John gave up the pretense and asked: "How do you know about my health issues?"

Lucy grimaced and said "We were made aware of your medical issues before we were sent to rescue you. Your history teacher was part of a group intending to harm you to hurt your family."

Jiya came in with some tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich along with a glass of iced tea. Lucy who ate with him asked Jiya to wait with John that she would be right back. Jiya began a stilted conversation with the teenage boy who attempted to flirt with her. Jiya quickly exited the room, stepping outside and making sure that the door was closed so that the future president couldn't escape.

John in the meantime frowned bored at being stuck in this metal room. Looking around the room, he saw Lucy's history book and lifted it to flip through the pages. Finding the Great War halfway through the book, he kept flipping pages until he saw that it was filled with science fiction. John wasn't a big fan of the genre but he was bored, so he kept reading. He froze when he saw his family's name in the book.

Reading that his brother Joe was killed and that his sister would lose her husband to another world war, again with Germany. Flipping to the index, he searched for his family's last name and slammed the book shut when he read his name and that he had the word president written beneath it and then the word assassination.

Breathing heavily, angry with these people for whatever game they were trying to play. Standing, intending on confronting someone, he heard the door opening and was preparing to charge forward.

"Are you ready to go home?" Lucy asked.

"W-what is this?" He asked holding up the gray covered history book. "Is this some sort of joke?"

Lucy's eyes went to Jiya who realized that she had left Lucy's book alone in the room with the future president. "Oh shit."

"What is this, this...abomination?" He shouted drawing the attention of Agent Christopher and the others. "How is this possible? What is it?"

"John, please let me explain." Lucy moved forward and gently removed the book from his hands. "Please, just follow me and I will show you what it is you want to know."

Lucy led the way to the command center and pointed to the machines and announced. "Someone from our world went back in time to kill you to prevent you from ever becoming president."

"That isn't my future, that is Joe's plan, not mine." He protested then his eyes went to the book in Lucy's hand and then at the machines that were way beyond his comprehension. Looking at the small rectangle flat thing that the dark-skinned man was holding, he asked: "What is that?"

Connor Mason handed the iPad to Lucy who showed him what it did and was. "H-how, is this possible?

"Time travel," Lucy replied. "John, we have to take you home."

Lucy looked at the shaken teenager and guided him to the time machine where Rufus was waiting. Wyatt was standing looking a bit wobbly in the doorway.

Lucy watched as the teenager stopped at the entrance to the doorway and asked "It said I would be assassinated. How do I prevent that?"

"Avoid going to Dallas." She replied wincing at the knowledge she was altering history but perhaps it was a part of history that needed to be altered if Rittenhouse was attempting to kill him.

"Thank you. I am guessing, I won't be able to save my brother?" He asked sounding somber.

"I doubt it," Lucy replied then when he had entered the lifeboat she closed the iPad and sank onto a nearby chair. "I hate this, I hate that I can't change certain things."

When the time machine returned, the team watched as Rufus, Wyatt and finally a rather disheveled Flynn who was telling Wyatt that next time he was not the person left behind.

"Flynn, what happened?" Lucy asked while Agent Christopher guided them all to the office so that they could debrief.

"Where is Jessica?" Wyatt interrupted to ask.

"She went to your room just after the lifeboat jumped," Jiya stated and watched as Wyatt left the meeting to go check on his wife.

"Flynn, what happened?" Lucy asked from where she was seated on his right. "Do you need medical treatment?"

"No, let's get this meeting over with. I have no words that are fit to be heard to describe this day, but there are plenty of obscene gestures that would work perfectly well." He said sounding weary as he looked at Agent Christopher. "We found the sleeper, he was the boy's history teacher. I took him out just in time but we ended up in a clusterfuck of a shootout."

"Wyatt was hit and they had drugged the boy. I sent them away and then took out the sleepers one at a time. I covered for the boy by making it appear as if he had fallen asleep in a classroom." He stated. "When he returned, he was accepting of my directives and we left."

Lucy looked at the iPad and typed in John Kennedy. Groaning, she said, "He was shot in Austin and according to this he has graduated from Choate with honors."

"Damn," Rufus said from where he was seated. "I was hoping that he wouldn't be assassinated. Last time it was Dallas." 

* * *

Wyatt and Jessica were talking quietly in his room and she agreed to stay with him in the bunker. Rufus knocked on the door and when he entered, he grabbed some clothes and Wyatt waited until he had left before reaching to pull his wife into his arms and began to kiss her.

Rufus went to the settee, grimacing at having to sleep on the short leather seating but he found Lucy curled up watching a movie. He was exhausted and was considering what to say when she looked up and told him. "Go, sleep in my room. I fit much better on this sofa than you ever will."

"Lucy, I can't kick you out of your room." He reluctantly replied.

"You aren't, I made the choice, Rufus. You won't get any sleep." She pointed out and when he hesitated, she pointed out. "I have already changed into my bed clothes. Just go, Rufus."

When he had finally given in to her request, Lucy returned to her movie, shaking her head at the thoughtlessness of Wyatt in not thinking about how he was affecting others in the bunker by bringing his wife there.

Lucy was watching an old drama with Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly. Feeling the heat of someone sitting down next to her, she smiled at Garcia Flynn who removed the cap off a bottle of beer and handed it to her before doing the same to his. Clinking her bottle against his, she told him. "Jimmy's character just saw the dead dog."

The movie ended and another Jimmy Stewart movie started. Vertigo. As the music crescendo-ed, Flynn joked "You know that is the problem with real life, there is no background music so you never really know that something mysterious, dangerous or even romantic is about to happen."

Lucy chuckled and said, "What a ten-piece orchestra doesn't follow you around and play Beethoven or Chopin as you go about your daily life?"

"Why no, do they trail after you?" He asked pretending to be looking around.

"Alas, no. They cost too much on a historian's salary." She replied with an impish grin. As the movie ended, she yawned and looking at the clock noting that it was one in the morning. "I should turn in."

"Speaking of that..." he let his voice trail off and then looking at her suggested that she use the cot in his room. "Lucy, you are still recovering from your injury."

"I am going to be fine. Besides, if Rufus doesn't fit on this sofa, you certainly won't." She replied then pointed out that she would fit.

"  
You may fit, but it won't be a comfortable place to sleep, Lucy." He pointed out. "I just wouldn't feel right, you sleeping out here while..."

"Go to bed, Garcia." She firmly replied. "I will be just fine for the night."

Flynn found himself obeying her mainly because she called him by his first name. Eventually, Lucy fell asleep, and Flynn came in and using his spare blanket covered her.

Over the next week, it was becoming clear that something was up with Rittenhouse and the mothership as they didn't jump once. The group living in the bunker found themselves settling into a routine depending on who they were and what part they had in the missions.

Lucy and Flynn along with Agent Christopher when she was there would be knee deep into the books and research while Connor Mason divided his time between working on some sort of extra special secret project and on his plan to crack into Rittenhouse's computers.

Rufus and Jiya were upgrading the lifeboat including dealing with the turbulence and spending time helping Mason with his hacking job. Wyatt was still at loose ends but thankfully he had Jessica so that meant he was working on fixing his relationship with his wife.

Jessica was telling the truth about her being bored. She cleaned the entire galley top to bottom and rearranged everything in it. This pleased Lucy as the shortest of those living there, she often found it difficult to reach the upper shelves. The to the amusement and gratitude of everyone after a morning spent waiting for her turn to shower, she took the parts that Agent Christopher had gotten and fixed the broken shower. Jiya, Lucy and she quickly claimed the nicer of the two for the women and barred the guys from using it.

Mason got the news that his company had officially been sold off and he went on a bender that lasted several days before sobering up and vowing to recreate his company bigger and better when they had finally taken down Rittenhouse.

Evenings were spent doing their own things. Lucy and Flynn often read fiction books or watching old movies in the evening together, Rufus and Jiya would alternate between watching television and challenging each other and sometimes the entire group to play board games.

Jessica and Wyatt would sometimes join them and other times they would be locked up in what had become their room either arguing out their issues or having sex, both of which was loud enough to disturb the others in the bunker. On occasion, Jessica would join the others watching movies after storming out of her room angry with Wyatt and would end up making fudge and watching movies with Jiya and Lucy. On those nights, Flynn and Rufus made themselves scarce as they tended to get caught in the middle by making a stray statement which would get them glared at by all three of the women.

"I hate men." Jessica was saying as she handed the entire container of peanut butter fudge to Lucy who had already carried in the container of chocolate walnut fudge.

"All men or just Wyatt?" Lucy asked trying to understand what was going on.

"My problem is that I don't hate Wyatt." She replied then admitted "I just...well he was my knight in shining armor when we were kids. We began dating in high school and I think he still sees me as that same naive young girl. The problem is that I don't need a knight to rescue me anymore, I need a partner."

"The problem is that most men who start out as knights are often convinced that they need their wives to be damsels in distress," Jiya replied. "Its why I love Rufus, he understands that I am quite capable of rescuing myself or even him."

"Let's talk about something less depressing like what should we watch?" Lucy asked as she poured some wine out of the bottle she had opened into glasses for each of them.

Jiya went to the list for Netflix and they crossed off pretty much the whole list of trending movies. "Wait, what about Titanic?"

"Not unless we can find a way to watch it backward and it becomes an uplifting tale about a magic boat that emerges from the sea and saves people, I deal with enough disasters in real life," Lucy replied.

In the end, they turned to Lucy's standby channel and watched an old black and white movie called I Confess that Lucy had already watched that month and turning the lights off were curled up on the sofa together. At the end of the movie, as the killer was being confronted by the priest, they heard footsteps and Lucy turned around holding the empty bottle as if it were a weapon. "Who's there?

Flynn was struggling not to laugh as he held up his hands in supplication. "Ladies."

"Flynn," Jiya said glaring at him for almost giving her a heart attack, first for sneaking in then for looking so good. It was very clear that he had been working out in some manner as his sweats were sticking to his legs and his chest was wet with perspiration. She adored her Rufus, but she had eyes and had to admit that Garcia Flynn was a very fit man. "Must you sneak around so quietly."

"By definition to sneak means doing so in a manner hoping to remain unseen." He replied then with a sheepish expression on his face, he reached down and held up the plate of leftover cake from dinner. "By the way, Lucy..."

Lucy who was lowering the bottle and avoiding acknowledging how good Flynn looked did so only to see him wink at her then announce. "If I were trying to harm you, do you really think asking whose there is helpful? Do you really think that the villain is going to yell out that they were in the kitchen making a sandwich."

"You, personally?" Lucy retorted. "Yes, you would."

The two younger women blinked when Flynn laughed and said "Only if it was you, otherwise, all bets are off. Now, if you ladies will excuse me, I will leave you to your debauchery."

"Hey, Flynn." Lucy waited until he was at the door then pointed out. "That was my piece of red velvet cake, you cake thief."

"You know what they say, Lucy." He replied while taking a bite out of the slice of cake. "Finders keepers, losers weepers."

"You, you will get yours, one-day cake thief." She replied while attempting to glare at him but failing miserably as her eyes never met his, instead they never left his chest which had a ball of sweat sliding down across his pectoral muscle.

"I certainly hope so." He replied while walking away.

"I love all of Wyatt, but wow for a man of his age, he certainly is...something." Jessica stage whispered to Jiya who was standing next to her. "Lucy certainly is a lucky girl."

Jiya nodded then looking at the historian saw she was going to get another bottle of wine. "The thing is, she doesn't realize that he is into her."

"How can she not, he has all but written it in neon letters and gotten a tattoo on his body," Jessica asked doubtfully.

"It is a long story, kind of like how you were returned to Wyatt sort of story." Jiya replied then when Lucy had returned, she asked: "So, what are your plans for repaying him for his thievery?" 

"Hush," Lucy replied as she poured the bag of gummy bears onto the coffee table. "The gummy bears and I are plotting and unless you wish to be arrested as an accessory for my crimes, it is much better to be kept in the dark."

* * *

Lucy woke up around three from the nightmare that had her reliving her attempt to be a suicide bomber and take out the mothership after killing that boy in France. 

Sitting up, grateful that no one was there to be disturbed, which was one of the reasons she had suggested that Rufus take her cot on a permanent basis, the nightmares came and went but when they came they were very vivid.

Going to the kitchen and searching the cupboards she eventually found the bottle of cheap vodka and poured herself a glass. It didn't really help to keep the nightmares away but it did at least numb her from feeling the pain of having taken someone's life. Carrying the glass, she returned to her small nest of blankets and pulling out the one that Flynn kept placing on her while she was sleeping, she held it to her nose to inhale his scent, finding comfort in the familiarity of sandalwood and honey. As she watched the light blue numbers on the clock roll forward until it was almost four, she gave up attempting to sleep and went to get one of her textbooks. Finding one about her favorite British time period, the regency of the future George the IV, she had just settled in to read when she heard Flynn's voice.

"Lucy.." Turning, she saw the tall dark-haired man standing there with his arms crossed and a frown on his face. "You need your sleep."

"Tell that to my nightmares." She replied waspishly.

"Talk to me." He ordered.

"Why? I have tried that, it doesn't help, it just means that you are one more person who knows how weak I am." She bitterly replied.

"Lucy..." Flynn stood there for a minute then after hesitating, walked around to where she was seated and placing one arm under her knees and the other around her shoulders, ordered her to place her arms around his neck.

"No! Flynn put me down this instant." She demanded only to hear him chuckling then to her annoyance they entered his room which was still dark as he hadn't turned the light on when he had left to go get some water.

"Whatever you say." He replied then dropping her onto his cot, he moved to kneel by his cot and soon had Lucy wrapped up in his blankets. "Go to sleep."

"I can't." She snarled and made an attempt to stand.

"Lucy, if you do not want me to climb into that cot next to you, then do as I told you." He warned. When she ignored his threat, Flynn reached over her with one arm on either side of her shoulders and then slid carefully behind her a bit concerned about the weight they were placing on this old cot but it held together.

"What do you think you are doing?" She demanded.

"Go to sleep." He said and Lucy found her head pushed down onto his upper arm and his right arm around her waist. Lucy lay there tense and angry but soon found herself falling into a trance as she listened to his strong steady heartbeat. Eventually, she drifted off to sleep and never felt Flynn press a kiss to the top of her head before he himself drifted off to sleep.

It was mid-morning when Lucy finally woke up, to find herself alone in Flynn's room. Turning her head to take in the warmth that told her he had only left the cot recently, she heard a chuckle and turned to see Flynn seated in the chair near the foot of the cot.

"What time is it?"

"About ten thirty." Seeing Lucy rushing to stand, he held up his hand to forestall her questions and announced. "I told everyone that I found you unable to sleep because of how uncomfortable the sofa is and that I had pushed you to sleep in my cot."

"I am sure that went over well." She said in a dry tone, well aware that Rufus while a bit more trusting of Flynn after Salem still looked at him with suspicion and that Wyatt still refused to have much to do with him.

Handing her the cup of tea he had brought to the room for her, he said: "Other than Rufus feeling guilty about moving into your room, Jiya feeling guilty about Rufus feeling guilty and the obviousness of Wyatt to how he had created this situation, yes, it went well."

"I told Rufus to move into my room." She pointed out.

"I also mentioned it to Agent Christopher who was peeved that she hadn't realized what having Jessica Logan here meant in terms of practical matters. She is going to arrange for another cot to be brought in and do to a lack of choice, either Rufus moves in with me or you do." He pointed out.

"I didn't notice any snoring, so I think that it is a safe bet I am your new roomie." She replied with an inward groan. It was bad enough that she would often see Garcia Flynn when he had been working out and on one more memorable occasion when she had accidentally walked in on him when he was shaving with his shirt off, she had been able to deal with her lust for the handsome Croatian, but to room with him, she knew was going to be troublesome in oh so many ways.

"I do have to admit a preference to rooming with you than with Rufus." He admitted with an impish smirk on his face. "When you are up to it, we need you in the library. Connor has some dates and the one I can only find a huge snowstorm to be historically significant."

Lucy yawned and went to shower, feeling much better than she had recently. She was pulling on her socks when she heard the sound of the claxton. Growling as she slipped into her sneakers, she joined the time team with her wet hair pulled into a braid. "When?"

"November 23, 1936 San Antonio, Texas." Jiya replied. 

Lucy looked at the others and said: "Nothing of significance that I am aware of happening, does San Antonio connect to any of your backgrounds."

"No." Lucy heard a chorus of nos, then Connor Mason asked Jiya to repeat that date. "What is it?"

"That is the date that Don Law records Robert Johnson, who influenced an entire genre of music." Connor was saying.

"Who is Robert Johnson, I have never heard of him." Wyatt was saying to Rufus.

"The father of rock and roll," Lucy replied stunned as she began to perceive the threat that taking out Robert Johnson would have on their world. "Take him out and you have no Muddy Waters, no BB King, no Little Richard. No rock and roll at all, no Elvis, no Beatles, no David Bowie, no Rolling Stones. He and his music were especially influential on that generation of musicians."

"Why would Rittenhouse care about music?" Jessica asked. 

"No Elvis, and you don't have people recognizing the importance of what was then labeled black music. To a certain extent, it was a bridge that helped overcome the black and white divide. No Beatles and you don't have rock and rollers who have a social conscious, and arguably the sixties wouldn't have happened the way that they did without them. No Rolling Stones and you have no rebellious antiheroes.

"But Bowie?" Wyatt asked sounding dubious at including the British rocker. 

"Without Bowie, you don't have Glitter rock and arguably acceptance of gays," Lucy said. Seeing Wyatt's confusion, she said: "He originally claimed to be bisexual, there is some doubt to it, but he did create characters and songs that are part of our everyday musical landscape."

"Without Bowie, you would have no Prince, no goblin king." Jiya replied with a chuckle that had only Jessica and Lucy laughing. Seeing that the others didn't get it, Jiya made a mental note to obtain a copy of the Labyrinth for their next girls night in.

"So, we have to go save this Robert Johnson," Flynn replied.

"Yes, but I think that Mason needs to go with you." Agent Christopher stated. Seeing his frown, she pointed out. "You are the only one who knows what and where this is supposed to happen. Lucy you are needed to keep them from being discovered. Rufus, you need to go as the pilot and frankly, I think Flynn should go as well." 

"Wait! What?" Wyatt asked sounding pissed.

"Wyatt, I need you for a mission here that Flynn can't do." She directed and when the quartet had left, she took Wyatt to her office and told him what had delayed her getting to the bunker that morning.

"I need you to go to this warehouse and find out what you can, but if you run into anyone from Rittenhouse, take them out." She ordered then went back to the command center to await the team's return.

Later after an action-filled day dealing with sleeper agents in San Antonio, Lucy and Flynn were driving to join Rufus and Connor with the recording equipment in the trunk of their 'borrowed' car. As they came to a train crossing the tracks, Flynn looked over at Lucy and said: "What do you think that Agent Christopher needed Logan for?"

"I don't know, but am sure that it has something to do with Rittenhouse and my mother." She replied. Watching the train slowly passing, she told him. "Thank you for saving my life back there."

"I am only sorry that I had to shove you so hard." He replied his eyes going to where the bruise was already starting to begin to show on her skin. With a grimace, he found his mind going to all the other times he had been rough with her. "I am sorry, Lucy. For all the times I have been so rough with you, I started this and became obsessed with fixing my timeline."

"It is fine, Garcia." She replied her eyes meeting his as she was reminded of how obsessed he had been with fixing the timeline and how if they had only known the truth from the beginning how they would have been on the same side immediately. "I can't help thinking what I would do to have my sister back, let alone a wife and a daughter."

Flynn bit his lip as he thought about poor Lenora, the woman who Rittenhouse substituted into his life to replace the woman seated next to him in the sedan. He wanted to fix things so that she was alive because she had been a nice woman who didn't deserve to die merely because Rittenhouse had no longer had any use for her. Then there was his daughter. He had his suspicions regarding Iris, and he felt sick to his stomach, especially if he was correct regarding her parentage. That Rittenhouse would go that far as to try to control him and then there was the question of if Lenora had been part of the setup or if she had been an innocent pawn.

"Flynn?" Coming back to his present, he realized that the red lights of the caboose were a good hundred feet down the tracks.

"Sorry." He replied then drove over the tracks and down the dirt road to the club where Rufus and Connor should already be. Pulling off the road, they entered the club and found Robert Johnson was talking to a woman that they were told was his sister.

"We have the equipment but Law is dead, killed by his assistant who was the sleeper," Lucy told the two men. "Connor, do you know how to operate the equipment, maybe you could record the session here?"

Connor looked at her in horror at what he was being asked when he looked over at Robert Johnson and then told her. "Yes, but what do we do with it then?"

"Send it back to New York to his recording studio. It is a safe bet that when they hear the recordings they will want to release them immediately." She replied.

Connor went over to speak to Robert Johnson and then began to set up the equipment. Lucy looked around when she realized that Flynn was missing but to her surprise, he came back in through the front door and then suggested that they seat themselves down to enjoy the show. As Robert Johnson began to play his guitar, Lucy and Flynn found themselves with a bottle of bourbon and Rufus seated nearby, all three enjoying the incredible blues music, but Connor Mason was clearly in seventh heaven as he produced his heroes music.

Jiya heard the sound of the lifeboat returning and she looked up in time to see the door opening and that Mason was exiting while talking to Rufus and the others clearly excited by something.

"Jiya, who is Bruce Springsteen?" Lucy asked as they came down the ladder while behind Lucy, she saw Flynn carrying several bottles of liquor.

"Uh, an old dude who plays rock and roll," Jiya replied while rolling her eyes. "As for David Bowie, he is the goblin king still, so whatever you did must have worked.

"What the heck is a goblin king and what does Bowie have to do with him?" Agent Christopher asked from where she was seated in Mason's usual chair torn between shaking her head at what Flynn had brought back from the past and asked what it was about this goblin king and the three women's smiles.

"You don't know who the goblin king is?" Lucy asked sounding shocked. "We are going to have to fix that, Denise. You haven't lived until you have seen David Bowie dressed up as the goblin king."

Scoffing, the homeland security agent replied. "I saw him in concert as the Thin White Duke and Ziggy Stardust, but have never heard of this goblin king."

"Well on behalf of your daughter, we are going to have to rectify that and soon," Lucy replied with a knowing look at Jiya. "What happened with Wyatt?"

With a heavy sigh, Denise told Lucy what she had been keeping from them. "I sent him to deal with a warehouse where I was kidnapped and taken to last night on my way home from work by Carol Preston."

"WHAT?!" Lucy's voice went up an octave at the information that her mother had kidnapped the woman standing before her. "What did she want?"

"To convince me to not send you out on any more missions because apparently after her failure to either convince you to return to the fold or to kill you in Salem, Nicholas Keynes has ordered Emma to kill you on sight. Carol wishes to protect you from his orders." Agent Christopher told her.

"I am going, the team needs me and wouldn't trust my mother to tell the truth," Lucy replied in a cold voice.

"Wyatt saw her at the warehouse and couldn't take the shot. He is stewing about it in his room." Agent Christopher replied with a grimace. "I gave him direct orders to take out Emma, Nicholas, or your mother if he had the chance without endangering himself."

"I hope he didn't hold back on my behalf. I tried to kill my mother myself in France." Lucy announced in a cold tone. "The only thing that stopped me was Emma finding the hand grenade I was intending to use."

TBC


End file.
